Family Matters

Our time on this earth is transient, and whether we know the end is near or not we must always take advantage of opportunities to appreciate those people in our lives who are important to us. My wonderful grandmother, Gloria Meyer, is almost 95 years old. She was born in Reno to the Oppio family newly moved from Cinqueterra, Genova, Italy and lived on the family ranch while attending school here in Reno with her six siblings. Gloria was the second person in her family to get an education after high school, and she obtained the equivalent of an associates degree in business from a school in California before returning to Reno, and her family, to open the Dinner Bell restaurant which she ran for many years. She cooks like a fiend, has a self-castigating and aggressive sense of humor, and nothing is more important to her than family. My parents, brothers and I cared for her as her health began to fail almost ten years ago, and last night we were told she may not have much longer than a few days left with us. Gloria has an amazing story. She is an amazing woman.
My paternal grandmother, Phyllis Kaiser, passed away in 2009 and her death left an emptiness in me that I could not have forseen. I am trying to learn from these experiences, but it is difficult. I did a short series of small books about Phyllis and her impact on my life. One of my sharpest memories as a child was of visiting her home and shyly asking to watch her type on her "fancy electric typewriter," listening to the clicking of the keys and watching the physical impact of each letter on the page. I was enraptured. And as I got older she allowed me to type a few words, then a poem, then one day I began typing and was so absorbed that I didn't realize she had left the room and almost an hour had passed as I worked amid stacks of paper and possessions in her study. I have recently acquired a Selectric typewriter. Perhaps I can combine the memories of both matriarchs in a new line of work. 

Please remember, even if you already tell your loved ones how important they are, and how they matter to you take a moment to tell them one more time. Feel in your heart that connection and understand how much it can mean to someone to know that they are cherished.